Conventional roll stands employ a tooling apparatus in the form of a roll set to form a work piece, such as in an ingot. The roll set is held on a roll stand between a pair of bearing assemblies. A bearing assembly typically includes a chock set coupled with a pair of linear bearings, also known as liners. The bearing assemblies, which are installed in opposing spaced-apart relation to one another, cooperate during machine operation to support the roll at respective sides thereof to thereby effect the desired forming activity.
Linear bearings and chock sets have been utilized in metal making processes to support movement of a roll within a roll stand. Linear bearings are used to provide a flat guiding module or plate-type bearing element for rolling frames. These bearings typically have at least one slide-bearing surface which is in contact with another bearing surface. The bearings are subject to wear and tear during operation in the particularly hostile metal forming environment. Embodiments of linear bearings and chocks are disclosed in PCT applications, PCT/EP02/03010 and PCT/EP03/014573, each document being incorporated by reference herein.
An essential part of proper roll stand operation involves maintaining the tolerances of the bearing assemblies. Bearing assemblies in general cannot simply be interchanged and put into use without first giving due consideration to how, and to what extent, the roll stand parameters may need to be tailored and adjusted to accommodate the installed bearing assembly. In particular, each bearing assembly represents a distinct tooling geometry whose corresponding operating specifications must be recognized by the roll stand controller and formulated into the roll stand operating sequence to guarantee that the machine is rendered fit for the scheduled tooling activity and that the roll stand is effectively used in a metal working process. Accordingly, proper roll stand operation requires, among other things, an identification of the particular bearing assembly currently installed, any unique operating guidelines associated with the bearing assembly, and the work piece activity about to the undertaken. Since bearing assemblies typically do not have a universal or standard machine set-up requirement, each bearing assembly may have associated with it a collection of individual data sets each correlated to a specific machine and defining a manner in which the roll stand needs to be configured to achieve structural and operational compatibility with the bearing assembly in use. A need therefore exists to provide a system that supplies the rolling operation controller with the proper bearing assembly-related information before the operation commences.
One approach to supplying such bearing information uses an identification-type tag integrally attached to one of the bearing members and which employs, for example, a bar code or magnetic chip arrangement that contains a coded data pattern uniquely signifying the bearing assembly. The identification code constitutes a search-type key used by a central machine processor to locate and retrieve the bearing assembly information corresponding to the target ID. Such information is typically stored in a memory area associated with the machine processor or at another location remote from the ID tag. These code-type forms of ID tags therefore do not carry or contain the requested bearing information, but instead function simply to provide an identifying key that points the personnel to the location (e.g., memory address) of the associated bearing information.
However, such off-tag placement of the essential bearing set information means that the ID tag itself becomes useless if for reasons such as system failure or communications breakdown the tag-retrieved code is unable to access the central processing facility that houses the code-indexed bearing information. Additionally, measures must be implemented within the storage area to preserve the integrity of the large volumes of bearing assembly data to protect it from corruptibility. Storing the entirety of the bearing assembly information in one single location may present significant risk to continued system operability in the event of a catastrophic failure affecting the consolidated bearing assembly data storage area. A need therefore exists to provide a tag operating independently of the reader device (e.g., machine processor) so that it functions as a content-based source of bearing information. Such an improved tag would compare favorably to current implementations in which no intrinsic bearing information is furnished but rather a key is provided for indexing a central storage area.
There exists a wide variety of information pertaining to the bearing assembly that by its very nature is subject to constant revisioning, such as updatable roll stand reconfiguration requirements and maintenance records critical to proper servicing of the bearing assembly components. The absence of any data recordation feature relating to bearing within current tag embodiments information constitutes a drawback for any roll stand application that needs to be able to update the recorded bearing set information with revisions or changes. Without an update capability, it may not be possible to perform such tag-resident tasks as supplementing the existing data with newly developed bearing information and inserting additional data on reconfiguring the bearing assembly. Accordingly, a need exists to provide a tag that continues to support a data retrieval function (e.g., a readable memory) but that may also permit bearing information to be selectively revised and recorded therein.
Another drawback of conventional tag units concerns the form of interconnectivity required to establish communications between the tag and reader. The type of interface used in certain tag embodiments such as a bar code or magnetic chip involves a direct physical connection between the components, making access to the tag difficult once the bearing components are installed. Even if the tag can be suitably accessed, the need for a direct physical connection nevertheless serves as another design consideration that must be taken into account when integrating the tag into the bearing assembly. A need therefore exists for a system that proposes to eliminate such physical connectivity between the tag and reader device while still supporting communications between the components after installation of the bearing members and the integrally attached tag.
In summary, rolling mills typically contain a large inventory of expensive rolling equipment in the form of discrete parts. The discrete parts include housings, drive train, rolls, chocks, rollneck bearings, hydraulic units and precision flat bearings. Not only are these components expensive to purchase, they are also expensive to maintain at the level necessary to produce quality, high value rolled product. The recording and tracking of these parts using spreadsheets and associated strategies often produces a veritable data and information overflow. While each rolling mill typically has a record of the purchase of these expensive parts, an accurate means of managing and tracking this equipment for maintenance and production purposes has not been available.